The Great Vegan Queso Standoff

I’m having a hard time figuring out how to balance this class I’m taking with other stuff right now. We have two tests a week, 2 quizzes every day, and 2 chapters to read every night. And right now I’m still working three days a week so that’s not really leaving me much extra time. (p.s. this weekend is my last weekend of work!!!)

Anyway, I thought this would be a fun post so here we go!

Before I stopped eating dairy I looooved cheese with a capital L O V E. My cholesterol levels did not however (hello total cholesterol of 260- yikes!). Anyway, just because I’m not eating dairy any more doesn’t mean I can’t have something cheesy and delicious tasting!

Enter vegan queso! I introduce to you, my friends, the great vegan queso standoff of 2011!

In one corner we have Food For Lovers Vegan Queso!

I’ve had this one before. Actually I buy it all the time. And when I say all the time I mean that I always have a jar on hand in case I run out of the open jar I have in the fridge.

It clocks in at 20 calories and zero fat per 2 Tablespoon serving.

And in the other corner we have Nacho Mom’s Ultimate Vegan Queso.

I’ve seen this one before but I’ve never had it. I was super excited to try it!!

This one clocks in at 10 calories and zero fat for 1 oz. When I weighed it 1 oz came out to about 2 Tablespoons. So technically this one’s lower in calories, but really I don’t think that 10 calories is a deal breaker for the other one, LOL!

The vessel that would carry the sweet sweet cheesiness to my tastebuds…

Food For Lovers- this will burn a hole in your tongue it is so spicy. I’m not kidding. I love spicy food so much that if I’m not crying and my nose isn’t running then it isn’t spicy enough for me. And this is almost too spicy for me. I don’t mind the crying and the nose running though, but maybe you do. So if you don’t like really spicy stuff this might not be for you!

Nacho Mom’s- this is very mild. Not too spicy, but not at all bland. Perfect for people that like a little spice without overdoing it!

Scoopability…

Food for lovers- this is perfectly scoopable right out of the jar! It has a nice consistency and when it heats up it gets a teeny bit thicker. Which is fine because it does seem a bit thin when you’re spooning it out of the jar.

Nacho Mom’s- this one is hard to scoop out of the jar. You have to stir it a lot before you can spoon it out. But once you do, it stays the perfect scoopable consistency for ultimate chip dippage.

Cheesy Awesomness…

I have to admit that it’s really hard for me to tell how cheesy the Food For Lovers is because my taste buds have been burned off from the extreme heat of it, haha! So I’m just going to give this one to Nacho Mom’s! It’s seriously awesomely cheesy!!! As in tastes almost exactly like regular queso!

AND THE WINNER IS….

Well, there wasn’t really a clear winner/loser here. I believe that they both have a place in my fridge. I do, however, think that I would eat the Nacho Mom’s on a more frequent basis than the Food For Lovers because it’s not nearly as spicy!

Where to find them…

I found both of these at Whole Foods! I’ve also seen them at a few of my local health food stores. Or you can find them online through several online realtors. Visit the Food For Lovers or the Nacho Mama’s website for the deets!

Hope you enjoyed this- hopefully I’ll have more of these in the future, it was fun!

Thank you SO much for sharing this Sarah! Whenever you say queso in Boston they reply with, “Oh like the Spanish word for cheese?” Um, no. I’ll be at Whole Foods soon and definitely adding this to the list.

Your summer class sounds killer! OMG! I can’t even imagine. How many weeks is it?? Ours meet for three hours twice a week for eight weeks. Luckily I only have one week left, but it’s going to be a hellish week: 3 tests and a final project. Blech.

I love that you like your spicy food like I like mine! If I’m not in a little pain, it’s not hot enough LOL But I have to admit that I’m a little frightened by these vegan cheese substitutes. I don’t know why. This sounds less scary to me than the shredded stuff though so maybe I can convince myself to try it – it does look good!!

It’s a 4 week class! Don’t be skeerd of the vegan cheese- there are some that are nasty, but these two queso’s are great! And if you decide you want to give some shreds a try, the Daiya Pepperjack is phenomenal!

I’ll bring you some! I think you’ll like it!! But then again I haven’t had cheese in over a year and I think my tastebuds prob don’t remember what actual cheese tastes like. Queso was never friends with my stomach!

Good to know that the Food for Lovers commercial queso is that spicy. I’ve been making my own version (posted on my blog) of their original recipe from the Vegan Explosion website for a couple of years, and have tweaked it around to suit my own preferences. I do like spicy, but don’t want to catch on fire! Have been dying to try the commercial version to see how closely it resembles the original recipe, but I just haven’t seen it locally yet. Likewise, whenever Nacho Mom’s shows up locally, I will def try that too. Thanks for holding this queso smackdown, but I’m afraid I now must hold my own! All in the name of culinary research, of course…

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